Always carrying a film camera leads to bigger insights.

There are some people who carry a non-phone camera at all times. Some of those people carry film cameras. I wanted to be more like latter group so I made a New Years’ resolution to carry a film camera more often. Maybe not all the time, but definitely more regularly. Even if it’s just a point and shoot!

It’s been mostly successful though I’m not necessarily shooting a lot more. There’s still room to have a camera on me more often.

puddle reflection

The purpose of this experiment is to cut back on putting shots on the back burner. How many times have you seen something and thought “I’ll come back at some later time and shoot that!”? Then hours, days, months, maybe years go by and then suddenly it’s not there anymore. It never happens and when you notice it didn’t there’s that twinge of regret.

Sometimes it’s a big regret and you feel like you let yourself down for letting life get in the way of your passion or creativity. Sometimes it’s just an “Oh darn, missed that one.”

My idea was that if I have a camera on me regularly I can pounce on those images more readily. The photo above was taken with a carry camera on the spur of the moment. “Oh I should shoot this!” and I could, and did. I had my Konica BigMini on me loaded with Kentmere K100 film. I took several because the light was low and I knew some would be shaky.

Puddles themselves are fleeting. They shrink without further rain until they’re gone. If you want to shoot a puddle your best bet is to shoot it NOW! This particular one was even more fleeting. The next day I saw this:

Sewer Cleaning

See that puddle was caused by a clogged sewer. The township crews saw it (or perhaps it was complained about) and cleaned out the drainage. That puddle hasn’t been back. Maybe it will be some day but who knows when that will be?

Carpe Diem! Seize the day! Shoot what you can, when you can, because the only constant is change.

I had this blog post bouncing around in my head for sometime when it got taken up a notch.

Some good film photography friends of mine had a good, life altering change. They’re a married couple and the wife was offered a career advancement that would take them both oversees on a permanent basis. I was super happy for them because it’s quite a positive thing, but I will miss them very much. I used to shoot with them a few times a year. Lately I’ve been getting to their area less and Photostock is pretty much when I see them. I do regret not keeping up and shooting with them more.

You either have or will make shooting friends. Cherish them and that relationship. Go shooting with the people you have. It’s important.

Luckily through social media I and all their stateside friends will be able to watch their adventures from afar. The world is smaller and it’s not as far as it used to be. Still it’s not quite the same as being able to share an adventure with them.

They haven’t left the country yet and I’ll have some opportunities to share some time with them before they leave. A few more adventures still await!